


Fight for the FireLady

by anothersilentwriter



Series: Two Sides of The Sea [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambassador Katara, Angst, Badass Katara, Bloodbending, F/M, Fire Nation, Fluff, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, death???? - Freeform, i'll add more tags as i write, sequel to Two Sides of The Sea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24078502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersilentwriter/pseuds/anothersilentwriter
Summary: The war is over, but there are still things left unsaid but one thing that is for certain is that Zuko wants Katara on the throne next to him. Of course, nothing is ever so simple. The Fire Nation is built on tradition and even though they have become more accepting a waterbender (and a bloodbender for those who know) will not be accepted. Katara must prove herself to be better than good enough in the eyes of the Fire Nation court, while also dealing with her morals after the war.Whoever said peace was simple and easy was a goddamn liar.Set after the war, sequel to Two Sides of the Sea.(and that liar might be Aang)~o~Piandao remembered that Katara was much more than what most people saw of her. He spent one day training her before the comet, and one day was enough to tell him that the girl had a power beyond reckoning that most men would barely be able to comprehend.“What do you want?”Her eyes narrowed, and she held the dagger tight in her hand. “I want to be Firelady.”OFFICIALLY ON HIATUS- FOR HOW LONG I DON'T KNOWSequel to Two Sides of the Sea
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Two Sides of The Sea [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1737169
Comments: 55
Kudos: 191





	1. Time to Heal

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up to anybody who has not read Two Sides of the Sea, this is the sequel to it so please go and read that first. But to everybody else, we are back! Enjoy my crazy writing style, and random updates because this will be a fun story to write.

They knew from the start that they were going to go two different ways.

He had a country to lead, and she- she had _something_ to do. The war had ended, and they were the last two of the gang. Aang had been asked to do a tour of the world, and he had asked Toph to go with him. Two of Katara’s childr- _her friends_ had left to go and help the world recover. Suki had left to return to Kyoshi and help her island, Sokka had gone with her.

She remembered Suki’s teasing laugh as she told Katara goodbye. While Katara and Zuko didn’t ever officially announce that they were a couple, it wasn’t like they tried to hide it either.

“The two of you will be happy together,” The older girl had said to Katara.

“Thank you, Suki.”

“Of course. You will write to me, will you?”

“I will,” Katara laughed, “I will need somebody to keep my updated on Sokka’s misadventures.”

Suki smiled back at her, “I’ll try my best to keep him safe.”

“Feel free to punch him if you need.” Katara had said, “If he really pisses you off send me a letter and I’ll come and rescue you.”

Her friendship with Suki had become stronger as the days past, the normalcy of being able to bond with a girl who isn’t throwing dirt in her face and doesn’t act like her child is something she had grown to appreciate.

Saying goodbye to Sokka was difficult, even though she knew she was going to see Sokka in only two months she didn’t want to see him leave. He was going to go to Kyoshi with Suki, spend some time there and then head to the South Pole if things went as the two of them had planned which they did she would arrive just two weeks after he did.

She had sat down on the grass next to Zuko, her brain replaying the events that had occurred. She did that quite often, nightmares would haunt her, her past deeds would haunt her. Sometimes she saw the men and women who died in front of her, people she could not protect- other times she saw men and women she killed in front of her. She could hear their screams as she drowned them, the look on their faces as she gripped their blood, and every so often, she could see Ozai’s face as she got rid of him.

Zuko knew that she had killed Ozai before she told him when he heard the news, he came to her first. He came to her stone-faced, and what surprised her even more that it wasn’t just Zuko alone and that it was Iroh who came with him.

She freaked out, apologies had begun spilling out of her lips, over and over again. She was crying for some reason, tears dripping down her cheek until they landed onto the ground.

“You killed him.”

It was Iroh who said it, and it was Katara through her teary-eyed fit who admitted to it. With her confession she also told the story of her death, she had confided in both Zuko and Iroh of the truth. The spirits, her mother, her death, her being brought back to life, bloodbending- _everything she told them_.

There was a tension, and she was guilty because she had wanted it, but it also wasn’t her at the same time. Spirits were complicated creatures and they had chosen her as the scapegoat. She had looked both of them in their golden eyes and understood the pain in both of them.

They both hated the man, but it was one less person in a dying family.

It had taken a few weeks for her to be fully forgiven- not forgiven, there had been nothing to be forgiven for- it had taken a few weeks for the last two men of the Fire Nation royal family to come to terms with what happened.

Zuko had come to her first, he always came and found her. He had been silent as he slipped into her room, and brought her into a hug and placed a soft kiss on her head. Neither of them said anything that night, they both stared at the moon from her balcony and she tried to ignore how she remembered his uneven heartbeat under a red and blue sky while lightning flashed around her.

She tried not to remember, but she never said she managed to forget.

Iroh had taken a few days longer, they had spoken about it in a conversation in comparison to how she and Zuko had their silent night. He had found her in the palace infirmary while she was healing wounded soldiers and trying to find a way to use blood bending for something good.

It was a sweet gesture for him to find her there, and it made the children of the palace smiled when he did tricks with dragons and flowers made of flames. The children of the palace were what Katara had named them, kids from the ages of six and ten who had left their older brothers and sisters in hopes of seeing if their parents were still alive. Those who didn’t leave with parents, she had asked Zuko to leave the door open to them and began to teach those who were interested in the basics of healing to those who were interested, those who weren’t enjoyed playing in the gardens and eating the food she had made herself.

When he found her instructing a young girl of eight how to bandage a leg wound properly, he had smiled down at her and said she had made some good changes in her time at the palace. He didn’t say anything directly and outright if he did that it wouldn’t be the Iroh she had heard about from Zuko or the wise man her friends had looked up too.

“You know, Lady Katara the ocean has its depths and serpents, but it also has dolphin-whales and shores that will make any sailor smile.”

He had smiled down at her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and then asked her if he would have tea with her.

A small grin appeared on her lips, “I’d love to.”

It wasn’t forgiveness, but it felt like a conclusion that was needed.

The night before she left was difficult, she didn’t want to leave Zuko but there was no denying that she wanted to stay here forever, or at least not yet. She needed room to grow and almost seven months in the Fire Nation was starting to remind her that she had yet to go home.

“You’ll write to me, won’t you?” He asked, “And visit me every spring?”

“Of course,” She had said, “And you’ll take care of Lillian and Yu-Ji, and the other kids?”

She wanted to make sure the Children of the palace were well taken care of if she could have she would have taken them with her but they were too young and the children needed to stay together.

“I’ll make sure they have everything I can give them.”

She laughed at him and the goofy smile he made.

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

With his hand in hers, she knew that he would always be there waiting for her to come back.

And then she had left the Fire Nation to head back to Southern WaterTribe. She was welcomed back to her tribe by her brother, grandmother, and father who stood on the outskirts of a village that was larger than she remembered. The people there rejoiced in her return, and the children demanded they show her water bending.

The last Southern Waterbender had returned home.

She cried that night and clutched her mother’s necklace while surrounded by pelts in the warm light of the fire. She missed her mom, and the small part of her missed death too. This was what her mother died for, for Katara to be a waterbender and live. She dreamed of waterfalls and a woman in blue.

Katara was happy when four months later a toddler was found to be able to freeze water into ice. She had picked up the child and spun them in the air, with permission with the mother of course.

More and more people from the North came to the South Pole, and Katara was proud to see many women had migrated across the world to see that they had come here for freedom and to meet her.

It was good, and nice until the tribe started to grow, and grow, and grow until some days she would look back on it and wonder why it started to stop feeling like home.

After three nights of hunting with her Sokka, and her father and some warriors (Northern and Southern) she had found Kanna by the door who had already packed Katara’s bags. “Go child,” the old lady told her, “go change the world.”

She left and she traveled. 

She visited Aang and Toph in Omashu, and she traveled with them to Ba Sing Se where she worked as a political ambassador between the South and other Nations. It was something she enjoyed, bargaining with officials, knocking the high and mighty of their fancy chairs, and helping them realize they could be helping the world. It was a good job, and it gave her an excuse to travel between the different nations.

She may or may not have stopped in some villages and pretended to be a spirit a few times.

She also may have gotten drunk with the warriors in Kyoshi and ended up winning a sword and a fan in a bet she cannot remember.

She had done many things, some she loved and some she regretted but her time was spent wisely and she enjoyed her life as she did.

The world had begun to heal, and so had she and after five long years of traveling twenty-year-old Katara had gripped the last letter Zuko had sent to her and was ready to return to the Fire Nation.


	2. Giving Gifts

Her arrival was only expected by two people in the entirety of the Fire Nation, Iroh, and Zuko. She wanted to make sure that not too many people knew where she was at a given time, while this determination to stay hidden caused quite a bit of trouble with some of her friends and family, Sokka and her father found it rather annoying that she would never outright tell them where she was unless it was for political reasons but Aang just thought of it as just another adventure, and Toph out of all of them always found her first.

But this time, she knew none of them would know where she was, she even took it upon herself to make a disguise. She had taken out her hair loopies as they had been dubbed by all of her friends, she had cut her hair shorter, longer than Suki’s so that way it would brush against her shoulders but nothing close to the hair that used to reach her back. It felt good to cut it, she had never seen herself with short hair, but she didn’t mind it. She also knew that it would grow back in a few months, her mother used to boast that Water Tribe Hair always grew quickly. She had her blue clothing tucked away into her bag, and instead wore a white loose long-sleeved shirt with plants and flowers hand-stitched onto them, along with her favorite pair of traveling leggings.

She did not quite look like Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, master bender, teacher of the Avatar, defeater of Azula, no she looks like another traveler on a crowded ship heading towards an even more crowded Fire Nation port.

She reread the letter in her hands.

_Katara,_

_I miss you, I always write it and I know I just saw you a few months ago at the peace meeting but I always miss you. I’m not sappy and going to say that my world is falling apart without you by side and whatever other romantic lines Uncle would have me write in attempts to “woo you” as he would put it. I’m afraid that is not my style._

_The Fire Nation is…. Well the Fire Nation and I are not going to bore you with politics, because I bore myself with politics._

_Your rooms are ready, and the children miss you. You should see how grown up Lillian is, and of course all the others. They’ll be excited to see you, you might even convince some of them to take a day off from working at the hospital. (I’m not sure what you inspired these children to be, but they are now workaholics that rival your own personality)_

_I’d offer to send someone to get you at the port, but you never did tell me what port you were going to arrive at so I’m just going to trust you to find your way to the castle, and please for the love of Agni don’t scare the guards half to death by showing up in the middle of the night like you did last year claiming that you should be let in. Just give them your name next time and drop the theatrics, you might sound like Sokka._

_This letter is short because the council requires another meeting, but I’ll see you soon._

_(I have a surprise for you, when you get here.)_

_Love,_

_Zuko._

When Katara saw the shore something in her heart ached, and she didn’t even wait for the boat to dock. Not caring if anybody saw her or not, and jumped into the water. Waving a hand right before she fell she managed to freeze the water into an almost jelly texture that broke her fall without getting her wet, a trick she learned from the swamp benders.

She could hear the sounds of people gasping around her, but she didn’t care and only used the water to propel her forward towards the beach. She could feel the ocean as if it was in her veins and she could feel the power that she held. She was running on water towards the beach, each step she took bouncing underneath her.

As she got closer to the shore she realized people had gathered to stare, fingers pointed and children tugging at mothers to get a closer look. It was sweet if nothing else cute

She recognizes the stares, some in awe and others in fear and disgust but quite frankly it doesn't matter.

She makes the water follow her out of the sea, a long stream like a serpent that has curled around her arm. As she passes a group of friendly children and their parents who give her smiles of awe she sends a wink their way and with not as much as a simple twist of her arm the bottom half of her serpent has swirled into the air and split into a million frozen pieces.

The children squeal in delight as snow flutters down around them, not caring that it is already water by the time it hits the floor.

Even the adults, the ones with distasteful glares find themselves coming closer to her display each of them entranced by the snow. 

She knows what they are thinking, it is foreign, it is strange _and it is just like her_.

She notices the way that one woman has something silver showing in-between her sleave, the sharp glint of metal. Katara pulls the serpent closer to her, forming it now so that it has teeth made of ice. The woman backs off into the crowd, disappearing in the mass of red.

If only she knew just how much she was capable of, maybe then the threats would stop.

It definitely wasn't the first time people had tried to kill her. Once in the palace with her and Zuko, a man who pretended to be a servant placed poison in their glasses of water, Katara who was always finely attuned to her element and even more so on a full moon was able to catch the inconsistency. The second time it was an attack on her only, three firebenders in the middle of the day when volunteering at a hospital, they were the ones who got hurt seeing as they had cornered both Katara and her brother. There was even an attack by an Earth Kingdom woman who when asked why she attempted to kill Katara answered by saying she disgraced the Avatar by not dating him. (Apparently there were a few others out there who thought along the same lines, to which Zuko, Katara, and Aang had addressed by making it very clear that her preference for Zuko was very much her goddamn business). There were a few other cases, and other than Zuko people tried to kill her the most. 

So no, people trying to kill her was not new. And while it was overwhelming to think of how many people hated her, she couldn't deny how it gave her a thrill. A remainder of the war that let her fight the way she worked so hard to have the right to train. 

Peace was hard and difficult, but it was also boring and she still woke up at night with the full moon above her, clutching her ears because she couldn't stop hearing the heartbeats of people in the same house. But the few times where she was able to fight brought forth a familiarity that reminded her she was still powerful, no matter how many people doubted her.

But there was always one person who didn't doubt her. Think she was a peasant, maybe. Treat her like an enemy. (It wasn't like she was any better at it). But he always treated her as an equal and never as something less. 

And he was right there.

With the biggest smirk she has seen in a long time, but with a smile hidden underneath.

Guards flanked him on either side, and Katara struggled to maintain her composure. While their relationship was known amongst some of the people in the Fire Nation for political reasons they always maintained a sense of professionalism while greeting eachother in public.

She kept a straight face, but she knew that her lips were pulled up into a slight smile. They were both being judged, here on the beach as the two saw eachother for the first time in months, but she had been warned that over the next few years her interaction with the head of the Firelord would be closely watched.

"Master Katara," He greeted her first, "I see you have found yourself at the Fire Nation."

"I have Firelord Zuko," she gave him a nod of her head, the closest she will ever come to bowing to a Fire Nation royal. Iroh had told her not long after the two made Amends that she will never, ever under any circumstances have to bow to a Fire Nation royal unless it is out of respect for a master. "I hope I am not intruding on anything."

"Of course not, your presence here is always welcome."

"Thank you."

He's smiling at her now, "Would you accompany back to the palace?"

"Yes your majesty."

He raises a brow at her use of words, but with a wave of his hands the guards move from his side and space opens up for her to walk alongside him. He doesn't offer her a hand as he usually would, too many eyes watching. But she walks close by his side, close enough that she can whisper a proper hello without being judged.

"Hey, Prince Pouty."

"Are you fucking serious?"

He never looked at her, and she never looked at him. Both of them walked forward, paying more attention to the crowd then at eachother.

"Sokka wanted me to say hello, he wants to see if you remembered his nickname." 

From the corner of her eye could see his eyes rolling, "How could I forget when he called me that at every peace meeting, we have had since the war?"

She didn't say anything, instead letting the smallest bit of water hit his forehead. 

"It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too."

Zuko slightly shuffles closer to her and a hand darts out and grabs hers. There's a slight squeeze and on the way to the palace the two of them walk hand in hand.

~o~

She is pulled into a hug as soon as the two of them are alone without the guards. They are in the palace garden. She barely has time to register the turtle ducks swimming past, or the color of the red and purple sunset because all she can register is warmth, pure, comforting warmth. He buries his head into her shoulder and she can feel the heat radiating off of him, and she didn’t realize how much she missed his warmth while travelling.

“I missed you,” he whispers into her ear, pulling away to look her in the eyes. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

There is a lingering question in his eyes, “Are you-“

She nods her head. “I will this time.”

She kisses him, arms wrapped around his neck. _I’m staying_ , she tells him by squeezing his right shoulder. _I will be here with you_.

He holds her tighter, a hand through her hair. _Thank you_.

They kiss for a few more minutes, until Zuko pulls away with a goofy smile on his face.

“I know that this isn’t the most convenient way of doing it, or that it is in the prettiest setting but-“ He reaches for something from his silk robes. “Sokka told me that in the Southern Tribe that you don’t have any typical betrothal customs, and that it is simply a man asking a woman to marry them but I didn’t want to give you nothing.”

Her hand goes straight to her mouth, she knew it was coming, she always knew he was going to ask but it still didn’t stop her from being shocked. “Zuko-“

“Here in the Fire Nation we give gifts, it can be anything. Baskets of fruit, jewelry, an armband, anything. Something that matters to the other person and I struggled to find one thing to give you until I figured out, I can give you multiple gifts.”

He hands her the box, “Sokka told me your father gave your mother a comb made of bone. We don’t have carvers here that do bone, but Sokka helped me make this one with gold and silver.”

She can’t speak as he hands her the box, she opens it and sees a rounded comb made of silver and gold, with koi fish designs all over them. There is even a Dolphin-Whale carved in there her favorite animal from the South Pole. She tries to find words in her throats to thank him, but she doesn’t have the time to because Zuko is walking behind the tree to pull something else out.

“I also got you this, well Uncle made it actually. It’s a tea set that he made with symbols from all the nations.”

He hands her the box gently, and even though the lid is on she can feel it’s weight and see the paper sticking out of it to protect the intricacies. She looks up at him, tears in her eyes trying to find words to say something but he goes back and again and brings her a bag this time.

“This,” He says proudly, “Is my last gift.”

“Zuko I can’t-“

Katara doesn’t know what to say, she never had proper gifts growing up. Special dinners on her birthday, favorites stories told by the fire on special nights those were her gifts. Her mother’s necklace was a token, and the first gift somebody gave her with thought was the flower necklace Aang gave her.

Even after the war when the heroes were celebrated, Katara never really got anything.

Aang was given tokens for being the Avatar, monuments and statues built in his name and people willing to die for him. Toph made herself a statue and people had claimed to do anything to meet her, giving her anything she wanted most of which she turned away. Sokka was the mastermind behind the plans and of course everybody wanted to meet him. Suki the leader of the Kyoshi warriors had a house built for her on Kyoshi, and in the Earth Kingdom. And Zuko- Katara wasn’t even going to go there.

Katara well… people didn’t give Katara stuff.

Some of them tried but she didn’t know to accept it. She got free food, and the waterbending girls made her a quilt which she loved. But presents, actual material gifts made she didn’t know what to do.

She didn’t know what to do and Katara was pretty dumbfounded when Zuko handed her the bag, and guided her hand into it. She closed her eyes and felt something curved and wooden.

It was a bow.

A white wooden bow, she realized when she pulled it out.

Katara didn’t know what to say, and so she said nothing and for the first time in the history of the two of them being a couple Zuko was the one speaking and Katara was the one at a loss of words.

“Katara will you marry me?”

Something in her that was not her brain got the words out of her mouth, “You know the answer is fucking yes, Zuko.”

And so for the second time of that day she kissed him, as her fancy gifts lied on the ground and the crescent moon began to take its throne in the sky she kissed him. She was smiling, and she was fairly certain tears were staining the nice silk on his clothes but she didn’t care.

“I love you.” She said, “I fucking love you.”

“I love you too.”

She was happy that day, she pushed down the feeling of uncertainty, the questions about what saying yes meant, and like the afternoon on Ember Island all those years ago she pretended that she was girl and he was a boy. And today that girl and boy finally got engaged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, Avatar is back on Netflix yay! (and so is a decade long ship war, thank goodness I wasn't old enough to understand the first one). But umm I haven't been writing for three reasons, 1. homework, 2. I was obviously rewatching Avatar, and 3. Contemplating how I am going to survive highschool next year, because the school I"m going to is a really good school and just the overall fact that I haven't done that shit before. 
> 
> Anyways, for those of you that made it to the end of this comment I would just like to do an overall Mental Health Check, because if you don't know May is Mental Health Awareness month.


	3. Whatever Comes Next

Katara was engaged.

She woke up in bed next to Zuko, her sleeping on top of the covers and him comfortably buried under. It was the first thing that came to mind when she woke up and stared at Zuko, her boyfriend, or her fiancé? Betrothed? Soon to be husband?

She wasn’t quite sure what to think.

She looked over at him and then off at the side of the bed where the elaborate gifts he had given her were. She reached over to trace the wood of the white bow. Even though it was an inanimate object she could feel a sort of feeling radiating off of it, as if the feeling of wood under her fingertips could recognize. She couldn’t tell if it was a pleasant feeling, but it sent tingles straight to her heart. A feeling like lightning about to strike, an anticipation or a dread. She did not know.

There was a shift of movement on the bed, and she looked over her shoulder to see him.

_She was going to be married._

The thought made her smile.

She would wake up next to Zuko almost every day for as long as the spirits would grant them. She would be near him. She would be near the children of the palace. She could help the hospital. She could help the Fire Nation. She would be by his side ruling. She would be-

 _She’d be the Fire Lady_.

Her hand suddenly jerked away from the bow, and went to her head.

She’d be _the_ Fire Lady.

The female monarch of the Fire Nation.

_The ruler of a Nation._

Suddenly she is out of breath, and her other hand rests on her chest hoping to feel for her heartbeat. She is not dead. She feels frozen at the idea of what will happen. Of course she has thought about it, considered it, but when the visions of the future crossed her mind she pushed them aside and locked them away with a promise of thinking about it again but knowing very well she was not going to ever be thinking about it. It didn’t seem real.

She loved Zuko and she loved the Fire Nation, but was she ready for _this_?

She killed the last Firelord in cold blood, _quite literally_. She chained the princess. She murdered Fire Nation soldiers, tortured them. She stabbed men. Knocked down women. She did stuff to this country that she still regrets, and while the spirits may say that all is fair in love and war this was no longer a war.

This was peace treaties and trade agreements.

This was tradition versus something completely foreign and unheard of.

A delicate balance that has been upheld by nothing more than withering threads of hope, and the idea that one day the world will be completely normal again. It wasn’t any better that the only person who could remember what normal had been was only a child at the time.

She’d be a Water Tribe woman ruling people with fire in their veins. The speck of blue in valleys and volcanoes of red. The darker skin against those with features made in ivory and marble _. What would this mean?_

Beside her Zuko shifted even more a hand coming in what she assumed was supposed to be her hand but failing horribly to figure out where she. It brought out a soft smile from her. She looked outside to find white pearls dotting the black and dark blue sky that made up the Fire Nation. The sliver of the moon stared back at her.

In the back of her mind she remembered the spirits whispering in her ears, spoiling the future and what was to come. Her mother’s voice telling her she had more to do. Maybe this was it. A cold feeling passed through her and she crawled back into bed.

She found Zuko’s hand that was searching for hers and squeezed it tight, whatever will happen after this she will do her best to fight for what they deserved, what she deserved. Whatever that will be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever just get like a major case of writers block and I don't know become unable to write for a few weeks? Because darn is writer's block a b*tch. But anyways I'm fighting through it, and I hope you enjoy this little excerpt of Katara's anxious thoughts. More is yet to come.


	4. Burned Sheets, Spilled Tea, and Conversations Nobody wants to Have

Katara and Zuko had scheduled tea with Iroh the next morning, something Katara had looked forward to the night before. Her opinion changed in the morning when she realized that to see Iroh had meant waking up in the morning. 

"Katara, the sun is up." 

"Katara, do you want to see Iroh or not?" 

"Katara lets go." 

"Katara-" He says her name again but stops halfway. He's been trying to wake her up for the past ten minutes and she has stubbornly decided to remain in bed. She was tired, the trip across the ocean to get the Fire Nation was long and she stayed up late last night with Zuko because of the proposal. The woman wanted her sleep. 

She lifted her head an inch above the pillow, "Ten more minutes." 

"I'm going to pick you up myself and drag you there." 

"No," She whined, "Just ten more minutes." 

"Katara-" 

"What was that stupid thing you said at the North Pole?" She mumbled, "I rise with the moon, and you with the sun? Well, that applies to sleep too." 

"I-" He begins, but through her tired eyes she shoots him a glare and he shuts up. "Ten more minutes." 

Zuko knew that Katara didn’t sleep well, he knew that she would toss and turn and sometimes murmur names in her sleep. He knew that at some time last night that Katara had woken up and stayed awake for quite some time.

Zuko was relieved to finally have asked Katara for her hand, but he was also worried.

He knew the journey ahead, and while he may be the leader of this country there were always other people in the country leading him no matter how much he wanted to fight them off. He gripped the sheets between his fingers, trying to use the coolness of the silk to distract him from the warmth of his palms.

Some people liked to refer to the people they date, _as theirs_. Refer to them as belongings. But looking at Katara, curls spread across the pillow and head slammed straight onto the silk pillowcases, he knew that she would never belong to him.

She did not belong to him.

She did not belong to anyone.

Bitterly, he thinks that she didn’t even belong to herself.

As much as Zuko would love to hear Katara call him, hers, he knew that she could never do that.

The only thing they belonged to, was to belong together.

But the next few weeks- the next few weeks, a _few months_ would test how strong their relationship was. As much as the Fire Nation loved Katara, they loved tradition more. Marrying Katara did not follow tradition. And- and he knew how dangerous this could be.

“Zuko,” A voice murmured from his pillow, and he turned his head to focus on her. “I can feel your worry from over here.”

“Oh.”

“That and the sheets are on fire.”

She bends water from a bamboo plant, and he watches it crumble before him as the liquid leaves its body. The water lands on the flames from his bed that he didn’t even register were there. He opens his mouth to say something, but she flicks water at his face before he can.

“I’m awake now.” She sits up and gestures towards the burnt fabric. “And I think we will be needing new sheets.”

He gives her a look, “I don’t think that the sheets are the issue.”

“Then what is?”

“You know what it is,” He responded, “But we will figure it out, now let's get ready for the day.”

~o~

“If it isn’t my favorite nephew, and my soon to be niece.” Iroh sat outside with a steaming pot of tea and gestured to both Katara and Zuko to sit. There was a table built in the middle of one of the palace’s many gardens, and it was clear that the old man had taken great care to set up a nice picnic there. “I hope you enjoyed the gifts, Master Katara.”

She blushed, “I did, Iroh.”

He gave her a kind smile and handed her a small cup of tea. “Congratulations on the engagement.”

“Thank you.”

“Nephew,” Iroh’s eyes flicked to Zuko, “You seem rather stiff.”

“I-“There were no words to describe what Zuko felt like right now, and while many times he had voiced his concern and his worries about the future, it very suddenly became very difficult. Next to him, Katara shot him a concerned gaze. “I’m worried about the meetings today, and the formal announcement.”

Iroh’s posture changed, shoulders straightening and smile leaving. Katara looked back and forth between the two. “I thought-“

“I didn’t-“

“Zuko, you should have…”

“But if I did, they would have never agreed.”

“You do know how much harder this makes things.”

“But you know how much harder _they_ would have made it.”

“You should have thought this true, my nephew. Especially with the recent developments and-”

“Well-“

“Enough!” Katara interjected, placing a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “Can you two tell me what is going on?”

Zuko looked at Iroh his face a mask, and Iroh looked at Zuko. And Katara, being the master of subtlety that she is, very kindly told both of them to stop looking at each other and to communicate to her like the decent human beings that they are. (So maybe, kindly wasn’t the right word but it worked.)

Iroh very gently places his cup of tea down and takes Katara’s from her too. “Zuko never asked the council for permission to marry you.”

Katara’s eyes widen, and she turns to her fiancé. “What?”

“I can explain, Katara I swear! The council hasn’t been too happy recently, and with major changes happening too fast and too soon for them, so I just decided not to tell them and do it.” Zuko flinches at her glare, “But there might have been a few minor rebellions recently, and some of them are old minded so asking for permission would have been bringing fire to a dry forest.”

Katara had only gotten engaged the night before.

Katara had gone over the risks in the path of her and Zuko staying together, and she knew them very well. She knew the council members, had become fairly acquainted with them. She knew what they were like, how they thought, how whenever she was there, they would stare and snicker despite everything she has done. She knows these people, see them in the Fire Nation, North Pole, and even in the Northern parts of the Earth Kingdom. She knew that some people didn’t like Water Tribe, didn’t like women, didn’t like Water Tribe women and didn’t like her.

She knew that, and she could handle that.

She did not know about the rebellions, and since she didn’t know she doesn’t know how to handle that.

And as her mind began to flood with thoughts, so did Iroh’s tea, and Zuko’s tea, and the teapot, and all of a sudden her cup which was very recently sitting nicely on the table with some steam from the top, was frozen.

“There were rebellions?” She asked carefully, “And you did not think to tell me? In any of your letters, not even one of them?”

“I know I should have told you, Katara, I just did not want to worry you about it.” She isn’t upset with him, or angry, or disappointed, just overwhelmed by how much less thought out this was. “I had everything planned for months, and I just wanted it to be perfect but…”

He leaves her to finish the sentence. “-but nothing has ever been perfect about us.”

And it is the classic line in every, every single romance scroll she has ever come across, “I just wish you would have told me.” She hates herself for saying it, but she does wish she could. “I want to know what happens to you, and the Fire Nation.”

She knows.

She understands.

She just really hates life sometimes.

She reaches for his hand, and he takes it. “I’m really sorry, Katara. We can talk about it later.”

She nods her head, she knows. She looks up at Iroh and the spilled tea all over the table. “I’m sorry about the tea.” She bends the tea that she spilled with her bending and pours it into a plant. “I’ll make it up to you Iroh.”

The ex-general laughs, “I expected something like this would happen, I made sure to use the cheaper teas in stock.”

“Of course.” She says, putting on her best attempt at a smile.

And so, they talk for the next hour, while Zuko was never good at making small talk or conversation, his Uncle certainly is. Iroh, it seems has the gift of fluid conversation. He and Katara can avoid the topic on everyone’s mind, all while making it seem natural. It was not. They all could feel the pressure for Zuko’s big announcement with every minute passing, but they managed to not talk about it.

A servant comes to tell Zuko to show to the council meeting.

Iroh tells him good luck and gives him that classic old person smile. Katara kisses him, and a concerned smile. She knows that there is a high chance it will not end well, but she tries to be hopeful all the same.

“If Lady Beifong were here, she would threaten to break the councilor's bones. I almost wished she would, they are rather annoying people.” Iroh says unexpectantly, and although Katara is surprised and concerned, she finds herself agreeing.

~o~

The council meeting, to nobody’s surprise, goes horribly.

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So like for some reason, my brain just hasn't wanted to write this chapter? Like at all? I've written 4 different versions of it, liked none of them, but for the sake of being productive, I shall post this one because it will get the story moving the fastest. Although, I will say that with school slowly creeping up on me there is a high chance I will be going on a hiatus to focus on the incoming amounts of work (I've been warned by upperclassmen, and they said surrender your free time and hobbies while you can, so fun.) With that said, I would like to ask your opinion on how this will go. 
> 
> Should I a) keep writing it story style, and just take a really long time to post.   
> or b) maybe write it in a string of very loosely connected one-shots that focus on specific scenes, and maybe publish stuff faster. 
> 
> So yeah, that's it. I hope everybody is staying safe, doing well, and if you are not I recommend drinking a glass of water and watching one doggo vid a day.


	5. On hiatus

Okay, so its been awhile. 

Like a long while, but I've come to realize that is has been about a year since I started writing Two Sides of the Sea. _Which is wonderful when I think about it considering it was my first fic ever_. 

However, I've also come to realize that highschool even in a pandemic is time consuming. So with finals coming up and having a whole new set of classes next semester, realistically I will not be able to have free time until Summer. And in the summer my goal is to find an internship or focus on volunteering if covid goes away, or even get job. 

And I know its been months since I last posted anything, but I'm the type of person to make commitments. Writing, for me is a commitment, especially when for the first time I have an audience! But when I can't make my commitments I give an explanation (my parents always said "Explain why you did something, but remember you don't necessarily owe them a reason.") 

So this is my explanation as to why I haven't written anything. (The only creative writing I've done was a short story for my english class, which I'm actually proud of not even going to lie.) 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a happy holidays! If you celebrate of course, if you do not enjoy life and do something that makes you happy!!


End file.
